ARGONNE, Ill., July 1 ― Internal combustion engines are poised for dramatic breakthroughs in improving efficiency with lower emissions, thanks in part to low-temperature combustion regimes. Such regimes show great efficiency and emissions potential, but they present optimization and control challenges that must be addressed before they enter the engine mainstream.

Caterpillar Inc. (Cat), Peoria, Ill., recognizing that we are entering an age of high-fidelity engine modeling, turned to U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and its Virtual Engine Research Institute and Fuels Initiative (VERIFI), where experts are developing new engine combustion models that incorporate accurate descriptions of two-phase flows, chemistry, transport phenomena and device geometries to provide predictive simulations of engine and fuel performance. Cat and Argonne have entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) along with Convergent Science, Inc., Madison, Wis., to further explore ways to predict how things work in diesel engine performance and emissions before any experimental work is conducted. This is the first such CRADA undertaken by VERIFI since its inception this spring.

Cat anticipates that simulations developed by VERIFI’s researchers will reduce the time and cost of the design cycle for new engines, allow the rapid adaptation of fuels from new sources and lead to substantial increases in fuel economy while meeting future emissions standards. “Working with Argonne researchers will provide us access to theirhigh-performance computing facilities and expertise in spray and combustion modeling that will improve our simulation practices at Caterpillar,” said Marcus Weber, team leader at Caterpillar.

Convergent Science is a world leader in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software development. The company’s flagship product, CONVERGE, is used for CFD simulations in many industries. The staff at Convergent Science are experts in CFD simulations, numerical methods, model development and implementation and were instrumental in adapting high-performance computing practices in the CONVERGE code.

VERIFI applies state-of-the-art tools in high-performance computing, combustion chemistry, CFD, and experimental validation techniques to develop high-fidelity, three-dimensional, end-to-end, combustion engine simulation/visualization and fuel simulation. Advances in high-performance computing enable VERIFI researchers to run engine simulations in parallel on thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of processors. While efficient scaling of engine simulations to such massively parallel machines remains a significant challenge, such calculations will ultimately allow not only the rapid engineering of specific engine designs, fuels and operation conditions, but also allow their optimization.

About Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

Petaflop per second deep learning training performance on the NERSC (National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center) Cori supercomputer has given climate scientists the ability to use machine learning to identify e Read more…

By Rob Farber

Activist investor Starboard Value has been exerting pressure on Mellanox Technologies to increase its returns. In response, the high-performance networking company on Monday, March 12, published a letter to shareholders outlining its proposal for a May 2018 extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders and highlighting its long-term growth strategy and focus on operating margin improvement. Read more…

By Staff

Quantum is coming. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon enough. Within 10 to 12 years, we’re told, special-purpose quantum systems will enter the commercial realm. Assuming this happens, we can also assume that quantum will, over extended time, become increasingly general purpose as it delivers mind-blowing power. Read more…

By Doug Black

HPE Extreme Performance Solutions

High Performance Computing (HPC) is unlocking a new era of speed and productivity to fuel business transformation. Rapid advancements in HPC capabilities are helping organizations operate faster and more effectively than ever, but in today’s fast-paced marketplace, a new generation of technologies is required to reach greater scalability and cost-efficiency.Read more…

The last couple of years have seen cloud computing gradually build some legitimacy within the HPC world, but still the HPC industry lies far behind enterprise IT in its willingness to outsource computational power. The m Read more…

By Tiffany Trader

Nuclear scientists working at the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF) have been arrested for using lab supercomputing resources to mine crypto-currency, according to a report in Russia’s Interfax News Agency. Read more…

By Rosemary Francis

SC is over. Now comes the myriad of follow-ups. Inboxes are filled with templated emails from vendors and other exhibitors hoping to win a place in the post-SC thinking of booth visitors. Attendees of tutorials, workshops and other technical sessions will be inundated with requests for feedback. Read more…